vrijdag 30 maart 2012

Yesterday I have visited the inside of the Duomo and today my to-do list tells me I have to climb on the roof of this giant building. Why? To touch the sky with my finger (I only read what is written in my guide) and admire the hundreds of statues which proudly decorate this huge cathedral. My beloved fiancé has a couple of hours free this morning so we decide to climb the 250 steps to the roof of Milan together. Once we finally arrive there, we are deeply impressed by the marvelous view. The unique and meditative silence, which the guide book had promised us, unfortunately isn’t available today because one of the luxurious restaurants on the roof of the Rinascente in front of us is so generous to let us enjoy their cheerful background music (all for free!). With my finger ultra ready for the job, I start looking for the best spot to touch the sky and to be photographed during this historical moment of me taking the third step to Milaneseness.

I find this spot in the middle of the most central roof terrace of the Duomo where I see the beginning of some pillar (they probably forgot to finish it) ideal for posing between elegant spires and other architectural beauty. Unfortunately the other visitors also seem to have found it which doesn’t make it easy for Alessandro to take a picture of me without some unknown tourist standing by my side. Especially Chinese Duomo climbers take their time to finish their photo reportages and get on the nerves of my sweet husband to-be who is cursing already for half an hour because some Chinese girl just doesn’t want to step out of the picture. I patiently examine the Asian model when suddenly I see something strange dangling at her backpack. I run towards Alessandro, pull the camera out of his hands and start my own photo reportage of the girl and her odd appendix. I’m talking about a bottle of water filled with strange roots or stems or something. As a fresh Master in Food Culture the thing intrigues me and so I have to find out what it is. I walk up to Daisy, because that’s how the girl is called, and interrogate her about the curious bottle she is carrying with her. She reveals me that it’s a combination of three different types of root which make her fizz of energy all day long! Given the fact that I can use some extra energy myself this year (I still have 98 Milanese tasks to execute, remember!), I ask her if she would be so kind to write their names down for me. Daisy is happy to do so but she is not sure whether I’ll be able to find the ingredients in Italy. She explains me that she brought all the roots directly from China.

But Nathalie Stevens wouldn’t be Nathalie Stevens if she wouldn’t find a solution for this tiny little problem! 5 minutes later I’m back down in front of the Duomo on my way to Milano’s Chinatown, that’s to say Via Sarpi and surroundings. Once I arrive there with my travel guide full of Chinese symbols, I enter the first Chinese grocery shop that I can find and ask for some Mai Dong, Shen Xu and Huang Qi, please. The lady at the counter looks at me in a strange way and tells me that she doesn’t sell this kind of things and that I have to go to a Chinese pharmacy. There are two of them in Via Messina, she says. I haven’t got the faintest idea where to find Via Messina and the lady’s broken Italian is too crumbly to make me any wiser, so I just decide to keep on walking in the colorful, Chinese neighborhood and give it a second try somewhere else. Not a bad idea, apparently, because after a quarter of an hour, I find this friendly tofu lady who sends me to Doctor Wen Wei Hua.

Doctor W. has a Chinese herb shop and laughs loud when I show him the symbols Daisy wrote down for me. He explains me that Daisy’s word for the Shen Xu root doesn’t simply indicate the well-known Gin Sheng root (that would have been easy) but the unfindable little beardy hairs on the roots of this root! Doctor W. doesn’t sell ingredients of that level of detail – and he doubts anyone else in Chinatown does – but he says that according to him the cocktail will definitely be as effective if I just use some ordinary slices of Gin Sheng. He explains me that I have to boil 10 grams of Mai Dong and 20 grams of Huang Qi for about an hour and that I have to add the slices of Shen Xu only at the end. Happy as a child, I walk out of the shop of my new Chinese herb dealer. Tomorrow I’ll brew my magical energy potion and work myself through my to-do list number 4 like a real Speedy Gonzales! Be ready, folks!

woensdag 28 maart 2012

I can never remember anything related to churches. I have visited so many of them now but there is not even one which I could call to mind. Except for the cathedral of Albi in France maybe. Because it looks more like a spooky fortress than like a church and because its interior is painted in the most crazy colors. But all the others? Sunken one by one in the quicksand of my memory. My church alzheimer goes so far that this morning, while reading the description of the Duomo (item 2 on my Milanese to-do list), it took me more than half an hour to realize that I actually had visited this church once before, one and a half year ago. Sacrilege – I know – because how on earth is it possible for a Milanese to-be to forget about her own Duomo? Well honestly, I have no idea either but reality is what it is and I don’t feel like lying to you. Maybe it’s just a matter of strategy? Maybe this time I should try to concentrate maximum on three details which I really want to remember, instead of trying to absorb this big gothic giant as a whole. Yes, that sounds like a better idea.

Do you see the little red light?
That's where you can find the nail!

I open my handbag for the safety officers at the entrance to verify I’m not a terrorist, after which I enter the holy building. I immediately begin to select the three details I want to take home with me today. One of them will definitely be a nail. That’s because I read this morning that every year around the 14th of September the archbishop of Milan steps into some kind of little baroque basket (I’m sure they have some more reverential term for it but I can’t think of it now) to be pulled 45 meters up to the tabernacle to grab a nail which was used to crucify Jesus. The crooked little thing, which nobody was able to put straight (proof of its true holiness), was carried in 1567 around the whole city of Milan to scare out the Black Death. Reason enough to become part of my Duomo selection I would say.

Finding the second detail which I never want to forget after today, doesn’t take me long either. I’m talking about the statue which made me realize this morning that I actually wasn’t going to visit the Duomo for the first time. The fact that this statue managed to escape from oblivion despite my absolute lack of church related memory capacity, isn’t very surprising when you know what it actually represents. At first sight it looks like a beautiful naked muscular man wearing some kind of long scarf around his neck. This might seem a bit odd given the holy environment we’re standing in until you open your guide book and understand that the man actually represents the flayed Saint Bartholomew and that his scarf is not a scarf but his own skin which he carries on his shoulders! Horrifying enough to earn himself a place in my memory and therefore also in my Duomo top 3. Still one more detail to go and then I can rightly declare my second Milanese task to be fulfilled.

Paolo

I look around in the hope to find a nice third detail to end this visit in beauty when suddenly a guy named Paolo walks up to me and asks if he can help me with a guided tour of the Duomo. “No thank you,” I say, because I need to fully concentrate on the execution of my to-do list, “but maybe you can tell me what, according to you, can be considered the most breath taking detail of this church”. Paolo reflects for a second and answers then without any doubt: “its façade”. “The front of the Duomo is just stunning and definitely one of the few truly magnificent things Milan has to offer”. Personally I was more looking for a detail of the inside of the Duomo, but at second thought I have to say I think Paolo is right. Because even if this morning I had completely forgotten about the interior of this impressive gothic temple, I clearly remember how the divine beauty of its façade burnt itself forever in my memory from the first second I saw it. At least one church related detail I’m sure I’ll never forget! Maybe I’m not becoming that bad of a Milanese after all...

Okay, guys! Here we go! Today it’s time for the first step towards my new Milanese identity. As you all know, my to-do list has no less than 101 items, but no worries, today we’ll keep things easy. Apparently my guide book tells me that the program of today consists of finding me a place to sit and read its first paragraph. That doesn’t sound very exciting. But what can I do? I promised myself that I could call myself a Milanese only after going through the whole list. And with whole, I mean WHOLE - no exceptions allowed. I can’t start complaining on the first day already, can I? After all, it’s not a dirty job either. To make things a bit more creative, I find myself a seat in a nice little place which used to be a flower shop but has been turned into a coffee bar/restaurant. Surrounded by beautiful flowers, I order myself a cappuccino and concentrate on the first task on my “How to become a Milanese” to-do list.

Apparently the first thing one is supposed to do to be considered a decent citizen of this city is learning why Milan is actually called Milan. The key of the secret lays far back in history in those days when Gallic warriors were still roaming Europe with their strong and fierce kings. One of those kings, Belloveso, one day got the luminous idea of founding a city. Unfortunately however, the poor fellow had no clue on how to choose a good location. He wondered and hesitated and wondered again and in the end he decided that he would just ask the Gods. Happily for him, the Gods of those days were quite cooperative creatures and Belloveso received an answer straight away. Since they were not only cooperative but also inventive, they told him that his city had to be built on the exact place where Belloveso would spot a female pig half covered by white wool. Gratefully, our courageous Gallic started looking for the pig everywhere but since half-wooly pigs were as unexisting in those days as they are today, their search remained without any result. Disappointed, Belloveso abandoned the whole idea until one night, when he was roaming the plains of Europe again, a strange animal run out of the bushes in front of him. Legends are never very original so you know which mysterious creature I’m talking about. Belloveso fell on his knees, blessed the Gods and knew where to found his city. Knowing the Latin word to describe Miss Piggy’s wooly cocktail dress (the Latin for “half woolen” is semilanuta), he didn’t have to look far to come up with a suitable name for his new city.

Now isn’t that interesting? I feel like I have become more Milanese already! But there is still a long way to go. Time for the number 2 on my Milano to-do list…

From last week on, I can call myself officially a Master in Food Culture and Communications! After a year of studying, travelling, tasting and meeting people from all over the world, I finally became the “gastronome” I wanted to be. Today we are March 2012, one year after the March 2011 in which this whole adventure began, and another chapter of my “becoming Nathalie” is closed. The goal I set has been reached, I’m very proud and happy about it and now I feel like heading for new adventures. But most of all, I feel like heading for a new “becoming”. Because even if it’s nice once in a while to just lay back and enjoy the time passing by, mostly I need something more to feel completely happy. I need to feel that I’m going somewhere, that I’m learning something and that I’m becoming a Nathalie I wasn’t before. The Nathalie of March 2011 wasn’t a Master in Food Culture. The one who is writing you today is! But what about the one we’ll meet in March 2013? What does she have more than I have now? Or better… What is she more than I am now? What dragon will she have conquered in the 12 month period lying between the two “Marches”? I wonder and look out of the window of the Milanese apartment I started living in one week ago. I distractedly browse a book I bought to get to know my new city better. And then I find it! There it is. There is my new goal, my new “becoming”! According to the book, the famous French novelist Stendhal would have said that one never is a Milanese, but that one becomes one! I can become a Milanese! I have a guide with the 101 things one should do at least once in a lifetime in Milan. In 12 months time, I can easily do them all and then, in March 2013, I could officially call myself, Nathalie Stevens – Master in Food Culture, gastronome AND Milanese! Okay, new “becoming”! I’m on my way…

About me

I am a Belgian Master in Gastronomy and I organize cultural and culinary trips and tours in Piedmont. Whether you're looking for someone to give you a general tour in Turin or whether you would love to visit a coffee roastery or winery or just take an Italian cooking class, I can organize it for you. Just contact me and let me know what it is you're looking for and how I can help to make your trip to Piedmont unforgettable!